An investment advisor, formerly of Haddam, has been charged with defrauding clients.

A New Haven federal grand jury recently returned an indictment charging Aaron J. Johnson.

The indictment alleged Johnson was president and CIO of Connecticut-based J. Capital Advisors and was a registered investment advisor with Trade PMR, a Florida company providing brokerage and custody services to registered investment advisors.

From approximately May 2010 to May 2013, Johnson allegedly defrauded clients as part of a scheme which caused excessive and unearned fees to be deducted from his clients’ Trade PMR accounts and deposited into Johnson’s Trade PMR sundry account. The indictment also alleges Johnson tried to cover up the scheme by repaying fees he reportedly took from a victim, claiming to the person and investigators from the state Department of Banking, Securities and Business Investments Division that the fees were removed because of a glitch in the system. During the investigation, Johnson was asked to provide proof he had the money to repay his victims. He then allegedly emailed a falsified account statement to investigators which falsely reported he had over $117,000 in his investment account.

The indictment also alleges that Johnson took $150,000 from a second victim in December 2012, promising to deposit the money into a trust account that would benefit the victim. On approximately Feb. 20, 2013, Johnson reportedly gave the victim an application to open the account and by that time had already spent the entirety of the money he had collected.

Johnson is charged with three counts of mail fraud, one count of wire fraud and two counts of interstate transportation of stolen money. If convicted of interstate transportation of stolen money, Johnson could face up to 10 years in prison for each count.

Johnson was arrested on Feb. 17.